Keeping Pace
by jtav
Summary: Miranda is not accustomed to being stood up. Especially when the competition is a Keeper.


_2176_

_LawBringerSR2: Next Monday. 7:00, Apartment 742, Presidium Financial District_

_GunMan2154: Sure you don't want to go out to dinner first? I know this wonderful asari restaurant._

_LB: Not looking for that. This is about sex. Don't try to make it complicated._

At least it wasn't supposed to be complicated. Miranda had done her research. GunMan2154 was Lt. Alexander Shepard, Systems Alliance. He was on the Citadel on leave before shipping out to Elysium. His aptitude scores pegged him as having above-average intelligence with significant command potential, though he hadn't yet done anything to draw the attention of either Cerberus or his superiors. In short, he was the perfect person for her to use to achieve a bit of sexual release.

7:00 arrived, but Lt. Shepard didn't. Miranda ground her teeth. There were several possibilities, none of them reflecting well on Shepard. He might have gotten lost. She didn't consider that particularly likely since his hotel was only a block away and someone of his supposed intelligence could surely figure out how to read a bloody map. He might be the sort who did want romance. That was all well and good, but Miranda had been clear about what she wanted. He ought to have rejected her when she told him rather than wasting her valuable time. At the very least, he should have notified her. She had reports to write and schematics for a proprietary biotic amp to review. Sex was a need like any other, and had to be subordinate to her work. That was part of why she was still enduring the cesspool that was extranet dating: it was a faster, less emotionally fraught way to find a partner for a night. Her stomach growled. Screw Shepard. She would find someone else to keep her company. The clientele of the Dark Star was generally acceptable.

The Presidium was slowly transitioning to its night cycle, and the faux sunset was as lovely as ever. Miranda felt her anger fade slightly. She would always prefer the sheer bustle of Nos Astra, but the Citadel was still impressive. An asari and a turian female walked together arm in arm while two salarians whispered in low tones. No one paid her the slightest bit of attention. When she had first to the Citadel, the aliens hadn't been able to stop staring at the humans or vice versa. It had been astonishing, almost uncanny, how quickly humanity had been able to integrate itself into the larger galactic society. But Miranda wanted more than integration. The volus were integrated, performing vital economic functions, while chasing after whatever scraps the Council deigned to give them. Humanity could and should work with other species, but it had to be as partners, not servants.

Miranda stopped and stared. Shepard sat on a bench a few meters away. His blond hair was a little longer than it had to been in the holographic rendering, but it was unmistakably him. He was watching a nearby Keeper perform maintenance on a console and occasionally pausing to enter something into the datapad he held in his lap. He didn't notice Miranda at all. Miranda raised an eyebrow. The site was so incongruous that she was more curious than angry. What was so fascinating about this Keeper that it could make the lieutenant forget her?

She was almost on top of him before he noticed her. His head snapped up suddenly as tension filled his shoulders. He was a lean, athletic man, and his clothes did nothing to disguise that. But his grey eyes had a shrewd glint as he took her in at a glance. His gaze didn't linger over her breasts as she had expected, but focused resolutely on her eyes. "I thought you might've been C-Sec for a second, there." He had the broad, flat accent of those who spent much of their time in space, but there was something rougher underneath.

_He doesn't recognize me. Interesting._ And more than a little humbling, if she were honest with herself. "No, I'm not C-Sec. I am, however, terribly curious what you're doing that makes you worried about C-Sec in the first place." Lt. Shepard was turning out to be quite the puzzle: a marine who looked like he should be in a university somewhere, was apparently fascinated by something residents of the Citadel took for granted, and who had scraped away almost all hints of where he was from. If he couldn't give her sex, he could at least satisfy her curiosity.

"Nothing. At least I've been told that it isn't actually illegal to just watch the Keepers. But the uniformed officers kept giving me dirty looks." He held out his free hand. "I'm Alex, by the way."

Miranda looked down at him. Any illusions that she was dealing with a cloistered academic were swept away by the sight of his outstretched hand. It was large, with small calluses at regular intervals. She returned his handshake. After all, she had been prepared to do a good bit more than that. His grip was firm as she expected, but not painful. "Miranda," she replied. "And what is so fascinating about Keepers that you're willing to risk the wrath of C-Sec?" _Especially since I'm getting stood up over this._

His eyes were suddenly alight with some manic energy, and his words tumbled out so quickly that Miranda had to strain to keep up. "What isn't fascinating about them? Nobody knows where they come from or anything about their biology. And we let them maintain vital systems. Why? Why do they help us out? What are they made out of? Do they have some ultimate purpose beyond maintaining the Citadel?" He gestured to the Keeper. "I've followed this little guy around for the better part of today. He seems to keep to a pretty strict patrol within a half-kilometer radius. You can't distract him with anything short of damaging something. Not that I've tried that." He flushed slightly. "Well, not very hard."

Miranda's lips quirked upward. "You sound like some scientists I know." _And a little like me when I get wrapped up in my work._ It was disconcerting to be on the other end, to be the one forgotten about because the other person had an idea that made the rest of the world seem insignificant.

He smiled at her, a crooked, boyish grin. "I wanted to be an engineer. Enlisted for the college money, but I think I might stick around. Do some good, see the galaxy. And you don't have to be a scientist to want to figure out how everything works. Just because the Protheans left a crapload of tech lying around doesn't mean we can just take it, no questions asked. If I were the aliens, I'd have been all up in the guts of the station a millennium ago. Or trying to figure out exactly how the relays do what they do. But no one seems to care. I'd hate for us to end up like that. I'd hate for me to end up like that."

"No. They don't." As best Cerberus intelligence could determine, a combination of cultural and political factors had kept the Citadel races largely stagnant since the rise of the geth and the mass exile of the quarians. It allowed humanity to catch up fairly quickly, but it was also a warning. Cerberus had to not only conduct its own research, but prod other human organizations to do so, lest humanity become complacent. This marine understood that. _Possibly a future recruitment candidate. Keep an eye on him._

He flushed again. Miranda decided to find it charming. "I'm not boring you, am I?"

She cocked her head to one side. Lt. Shepard was certainly interesting. Far too interesting to waste on a mere one night stand. "You're not boring me."

"Good, because I have a habit of—" His eyes were wide with sudden panic. "What time is it? There was someone I was supposed to meet at seven."

Miranda barely restrained a smirk. "Hot date?"

"Not according to her." He cursed under his breath. "I got so caught up in this Keeper stuff and—oh, God, I bet she's the type to filet me alive."

This time Miranda did smirk. "Oh, no. I much prefer a simple bullet to the head, _GunMan2154."_

He didn't speak for several seconds as all the color drained from his face. "You?" he whispered.

"Me."

He opened his mouth, no doubt to let forth a truly impressive apology, but Miranda held up a hand. "You can make your excuses over dinner. I know this truly fascinating asari restaurant."

Alex ran a hand over his forehead, as if checking for bullet holes. "I, ah, thought you didn't want to make this complicated?"

"I don't, but I do want to hear more of your theories about the Keepers. And so would some friends of mine." Yes, Cerberus would be very interested indeed. A little charm, a little persuasion, and she could turn a potential paramour into a potential ally.

And maybe have a little fun while she did it.


End file.
